Aerosmith – Draw the Line (1977)

Aerosmith was one of the first "adult" bands I was into. Back in the day, I liked their newer albums, such as Get a Grip, Pump and Permanent Vacation more than the old albums, but once I got over my Aerosmith phase, I have actually liked the old albums more when I have occasionally returned to listen to the band's albums. I bought pretty much all of their albums back in the day when they were one of my favourite bands. They were ruined for me when they made that awful cheesy song for the film Armageddon. After that I couldn't take them seriously for a long time. Quite recently I have listened to some of their 70s albums and I actually think they're pretty good. Draw the Line is not among the best of them, but there are a couple of really good songs on it nevertheless. It's fun to see how long the band has been around even if the hight of their career was in the 90s.



If you listen to the couple of first Aerosmith albums, you'll notice immediately that something has happened to Steven Tyler's voice. Especially on the first album, it is clear and beautiful, but the further you go in their career, the more fucked up his vocals become. On Draw the Line, the vocals already sound quite a lot like on the 80s hit albums. Musically this album is more rock n' roll and it's not quite as cheesy yet. There are similarities to bands like New York Dolls in the sounds. I guess this was a time for the band to search for their own sounds after the slightly glammy rock of their early career wasn't that fashionable anymore.

The album begins with the title-track Draw the Line. I like the guitar riffs in the beginning and the intensity of the song reminds me of some of the early Aerosmith rock songs. The song is quite simple, but the attitude is right and I'm sure this would work live. I Wanna Know Why continues with similar New York Dolls style sounds. It's quite surprising how good Joe Perry's guitars were already at that time. Critical Mass changes the mood slightly and there are some more Americana style sounds in the song in the form of slide guitars. Get It Up changes the sounds even more rough with overdriven guitars playing rhythmic riffs that remind me of some garage rock bands of the 70s. Bright Light Fright shows the band in its most aggressive. This kind of music may have influenced bands like Mötley Crüe a couple of years later. Kings and Queens is my favourite track on the album and always has been. I like the melancholic melody and Steven Tyler's vocals are quite excellent towards the end of the song. The Hand That Feeds returns the intensity to more standard rock n' roll. The bass lines are quite groovy in this one. Sight for Sore Eyes continues with the funk rock aesthetics. I can see in my mind Steven Tyler dancing to this with his multicoloured scarves. It's interesting how many of the time's musical styles Aerosmith has been influenced by in their fairly straightforward hard rock. The album ends with Aerosmith's version of the great rock n' roll song Milk Cow Blues, originally performed by Kokomo Arnold.

There aren't probably any music videos from this era, but I do want to link something, so it has to be live stuff. On this Draw the Line live performance from 1978, you can see just how energetic the band can be on stage. The most remarkable thing on this video is Joe Perry's guitar playing with a slide tube.

I don't listen to Aerosmith much these days, but I do think their albums in the 70s were really good and people often forget that when they listen to the horrible cheesy ballads the band made in the 90s and later. Aerosmith was a tough hard rock band that has probably influenced many hard rock bands of the 80s. I definitely want to give them the credit they deserve.

Listen to the album on Spotify.